It isn’t racist or anti-immigration to say that the pace of change from immigration in recent years has been too much for some communities such as Barking in East London or Boston in Lincolnshire.

Alamy

We need to help immigrants integrate into the UK

People are understandably uncomfortable when the character and make up of a town change out of all recognition in five or 10 years.

It’s absolutely true that Britain has been built on generations of immigration, going back centuries.

The diversity this has brought has benefited us all. And no one should be suggesting that Brexit means we should shut our borders to the people we need work in our NHS or to help us grow our economy.

PA:Press Association

Brexit doesn't mean we have to shut our borders

But what I say in my report today is that, whatever the level of immigration now or in the future, we need to do better at helping people adapt to life in the UK when they arrive and helping all of us who are already here to get to know each other better.

That doesn’t mean everybody has to be the same or support the England cricket team.

And it doesn’t mean we go back to the worst of a ‘multiculturalism’ that celebrated our differences and not what we have in common.

Alamy

The NHS relies on migrant workers

It means we all have a common sense of what it is to be British and what are common values, rights and responsibilities are. Our freedoms and equalities are part of what makes this country so great and so attractive to others.

So we shouldn’t be afraid to insist on them.

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